![]() ![]() ![]() Ultimately, House of Usher does follow the basic story of Poe’s tale pretty carefully, simply adding in the relationship between Madeline and Philip Winthrop as something to pad out the length and give them something to talk about. Bristol simply does what he’s told and is more or less resigned to the fact that when the Usher line dies, he’ll probably die with it. In fact, returning to the family home has made her succumb to those cataleptic spells.Ĭorman has also given us a fourth character in Bristol (Harry Ellerbe), who acts as a caretaker for the Usher house and family. She wants to, but she’s also convinced that she and her brother are doomed. For his part, Winthrop does the best he can to convince Madeline to leave with him. ![]() He does his best to get Winthrop to leave and then puts up with him with poor grace. Roderick believes that the entire Usher line is cursed and that neither he nor his sister should marry or procreate so that the curse will die with them. Standing in the way of this is Roderick Usher (Vincent Price), who believes that both he and his sister are doomed. Winthrop has arrived with the intention of taking Madeline away and marrying her. To get Winthrop to get to the Usher house, he is given a relationship with Madeline (Myrna Fahey), who used to live in Boston and worked with him. For starters, he gives our narrator the name of Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon). Do make it work even remotely, Corman needs to add quite a bit. The problem with making this into a film is that there’s not nearly enough story here, even for the dinky running time of this version. Cheery stuff, and par for the course for good ol’ Edgar. The narrator flees, and when he turns around, he discovers that the entire house has split apart and sunk into the swamp that surrounds it. She “rises” from her tomb, seeks out her brother and the two of them perish. Madeline dies and is entombed, but of course she wasn’t really dead. We also learn that Roderick’s sister Madeline is ill and frequently falls into that favorite malady of the era, a cataleptic trance that is virtually indistinguishable from death. Bright lights, anything beyond the blandest food, loud noises, all of these send him into paroxysms of pain. Usher complains that virtually everything causes him pain. The classic Poe story involves our unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend Roderick Usher, who has fallen into dissolution. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |